Our site has been up for two weeks now and we have had almost 15,000 visitors and more than 2,000 people have recommended Swing33 on Facebook. According to our voluntary survey, more than $11,000 has been donated to close ridings across Canada (this number may be much higher since we don’t know how many have donated without filling out the survey).

We have noticed that a number of ridings are getting a lot of attention such as Saanich Gulf Islands and Vancouver South. Where people chose to donate is entirely up to them, but we wanted to point out the importance of spreading donations around.

Elections Canada sets campaign spending limits for each riding and in the last election the Conservatives maxed out these limits in almost all the tight ridings listed on our site. Not so for the opposition candidates, even when the race was very close - illustrating the importance of leveling the fundraising playing field.

For instance, in Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca in 2008 the Conservatives spent within 98% of the $91,768.05 allowed for each party by Elections Canada in that riding. The Liberals spent only 77% of the limit and the NDP, 60% – even though this riding was was carried by only 68 votes.

Saanich – Gulf Islands seems to be a tight two-way race this election between the Green Party and the Conservatives. It is somewhat of a special case since the Green Party is likely going to be able to reach their spending limit in this riding since they are focusing national resources on electing their leader Elizabeth May. Likewise, Vancouver South is a very tight riding for the Liberals with a high profile candidate Ujjal Dosanjh. They may chose to max out their spending limit there without any outside help.

One the people who commented on our survey said:

I actually donated to about 5 different ridings, mostly ones that I had some kind of personal connection with (lived there, family lives there, or in the lower mainland, where I live), I donated probably about $500-$600.  Thanks *loads* for organizing this!

I would encourage everyone coming to this site to consider doing something similar. We want to ensure that the donations are strategically spread around where they can do the most good. And please fill out the survey if you have not already so we can get a better idea of how well it is working.

Thanks for coming to Swing 33! You are making a big difference in democracy in Canada.

Mitch